[FM20] Returning to the Reading Way

[DaneBramage]

Reading FC is a shambles of a football club.

It hasn't always been that way - Sir John Madejski ran the club very well for many years. But since he relinquished control in 2012, a succession of charlatans and frauds have left the club in a terrible state. 

A six point deduction in 2021/22 due to failing EFL profitability and sustainability rules nearly saw the team relegated from th Championship, surviving only due to Derby County being in an even bigger mess and suffering a large punishment of their own.

But it was only a temporary reprieve. Reading had failed to obey the business plan that had been agreed with the EFL, and picked up another six point deduction in 2022/23. This time it was damning, and Reading were relegated to the third tier for the first time since 2001/02.

[DaneBramage]

The Reading Way

Okay, so Reading FC perhaps isn't known for having a hugely prestigious history. The trophy cabinet is a little bare, with the Championship trophies from 2005/06 and 2011/12 taking pride of place.

And of course, the 1987/88 Simod Cup. Who could forget about that?

But let's go back to the 2005/06 Championship win. By anyone's standards, that was a great achievement. Under the stewardship of Steve Coppell, Reading had an incredible season. Losing just twice in the league, Reading set a record total of 106 points, which stands to this day.

And what a team it was!

In goal Marcus Hahnemann played 45 times, keeping 22 clean sheets .

Ivar Ingimarsson and Ibrahima Sonko started every game as the centre-back pairing, as only 32 goals were conceded all season. Nicky Shorey and club captain Graeme Murty started 40 games each, with Chris Makin stepping in when needed.

Steve Sidwell and James Harper, both products of the Arsenal academy, created a formidable partnership in central midfield, with Brynjar Gunnarsson a more than capable back-up. Bobby Convey and Glen Little provided skill and pace on the wings, with Stephen Hunt and John Oster regularly replacing them in the second-half of games.

And up front the combination of Kevin Doyle and Dave Kitson scored 36 goals between them, with third-choice Leroy Lita also making a significant contribution of 11 strikes.

[DaneBramage]

I didn't get on well with FM23, so I'm using FM20 for this. 

At the time, Reading were about to start their seventh consecutive season in the Championship. There had been a bright spot a few years prior, as Jaap Stam led them to third place in the 2016/17 table. Unfortunately this culminated in a trip to Wembley for the play-off final. The day out with a few beers was fun, shame about the football ruining things. The match was a horrendously dull affair, and after a goalless draw we lost to Huddersfield on penalties. It pretty much put me off going to games, think I've only been back to the Madejski twice since then.

Back-to-back 20th place finishes in 2017/18 and 2018/19 didn't provide anyone with much joy either, and there wasn't much to be inspired about.

Objectives

Promotion, obviously. I don't expect it to come quickly by any means, but we definitely need to be looking upwards rather than down. We can't let the real-life events of the next few years be repeated.

A trophy of some sort. As mentioned previously, the trophy cabinet has plenty of spare room. 

Inclusion of academy graduates. Everyone here loves to include youth prospects, and I'm the same. Reading do have a decent tradition of creating talent, with Shane Long, Gylfi Sigurdsson [redacted], Omar Richards, and Michael Olise amongst the most notable.

2005/06 legacy. In line with Steve Coppell's tactics, I will most commonly be using 4-4-2 (also, because it's pretty much all I know). And in recognition of that team, I will only be signing players of the same nationalities - English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, American, Senegalese, and Icelandic. Where possible I will also be trying to match up positions with nationalities, but that's just a bonus.

Spoiler

 

[DaneBramage]

Facilities

Our training facilities are suitable for a Championship squad, with the senior and youth grounds both rated as great.

Junior coaching and youth recruitment aren't at the same standard, both rated as only adequate. I don't think it's realistic to immediately request upgrades at every opportunity, so I'll be waiting until the end of the season before asking for improvements to be made.

Staff

Spoiler

We're lacking in several regards here, but again, I don't find it realistic to immediately come in and go about renovating the set-up. For now I'm not making any additions or changes, and have set staff recruitment and retention responsibilities to the Director of Football.

Finances

Just over £2 million in the bank. Not great, and I assume it will go down very quickly. There's a £49 million loan we're paying back to the chairman, at £220k per month. I have transfers turned off during the first window, but once January comes we will likely have to see if we have any sellable assets. 

Affiliates

We've got connections with three local clubs for loaning young players - Hungerford Town (tier 6), Salisbury (tier 7), and Basingstoke Town (tier 8).

There's also a link with Ocean City in America, for merchandise and scouting knowledge purposes.

[DaneBramage]

The Players - First Team Squad

Goalkeepers

A Brazilian international? Rafael is the obvious choice for starting goalkeeper, and we have a decent back-up.

Defenders

I'm fairly happy with this selection. I see a starting back four of Yiadom, Moore, Miazga, and Richards, with a decent second-string of Gunter, Morrison, Blackett, and Obita.

Omar Richards has a ton of potential so I want to get him tied down to a longer contract sooner rather than later. In real life he was off to Bayern Munich when his contract ran out, before a big money move to Nottingham Forest.

Liam Moore is probably a candidate to leave if the Wnt indicator turns into anything concrete. With that valuation and hefty wage him going could help out our financial situation. In real life he became unpopular due to not playing much in recent years and choosing to give up the captaincy, along with other murky rumours.

Midfielders

Andy Rinomhota and John Swift will probably be my starters, though I don't know how long we'll be able to keep the latter. In real life we lost him for nothing at the end of his contract, so I want to avoid that. Charlie Adam still has talent, but his legs are gone.

I don't remember the other two.

Wingers

We've got numbers here, but I'm not convinced by the quality. Ovie Ejaria is a good player, but inconsistent. The loan becomes permanent at the end of the season. Garath McCleary was a good player, but age catches up with everyone. Yakou Meite can score goals, he may see more time up front. Sone Aluko was a big waste of money.

I don't remember the other two.

Strikers

I always liked George Puscas and felt he deserved more of a chance. In real life he's spent the last couple of years on loan in Italy. Lucas Joao can definitely score goals, but can also go on very cold streaks.

Sam Baldock was a poor signing.

[DaneBramage]

The Players - Part Two

Under 23 Squad

Spoiler

There's some serious talent in this squad. Tom McIntyre is a key player in the current Reading squad.

Unfortunately, the rest of the highly rated players have since left, so I'll need to get them locked down before they get poached away (Michael Olise went on a big money deal to Crystal Palace, while Danny Loader is at Porto and Thierry Nevers at West Ham). 

All are candidates to be bumped up to the senior squad.

Under 18 Squad

Spoiler

Definitely some players here who could make an impression before too long, Coniah Boyce-Clark and Jeriel Dorsett the pick of the bunch.

Out on loan

Spoiler

Tom Holmes is a key player in real life, so hopefully he'll come back from loan ready to go into the senior squad. Modou Barrow is also good enough to come in.

Vito Mannone and Adrian Popa don't have a future here, their contracts run out at the end of the loan periods.

[DaneBramage]

The Manager

Spoiler

Ceve Stoppell has the relevant badges and experience for the Championship.

The Set-Up

Spoiler

Leagues are loaded up to match the nationalities that I plan on signing.

Depending on speed I may add more leagues later on, particularly the bigger European leagues, more a more rounded game world.

[DaneBramage]

July 2019 - Pre-Season

Contracts

Michael Olise, Thierry Nevers, and Omar Richards have all signed contract extensions, complete with an optional three years.

Danny Loader isn't interested in a new deal at the moment, and if this doesn't change any time soon I'll trigger the one year option currently available.

Friendlies

We beat Greenock Morton, Dagenham & Redbridge, Basingstoke Town, and Gillingham. Losses to Köln and Fiorentina were expected, but we did well to draw against Chelsea.

Expectations

The bookies don't think we'll contend for promotion this year, giving us odds of 30-1. 

The board would be happy with a top-half finish.

Edited July 4, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

August 2019

Much to my surprise, we've come flying out of the blocks. We'd picked up a number of small knocks over the summer, so had to make five changes to my provisional first-team. But the players who've come in have done so with style, and the younger players have shown they're ready to step up now.

Michael Olise showed nerves of steel to score from the spot, his first goal for the club, on the opening day against Sheffield Wednesday. Danny Loader scored three times over the first two matches, before picking up a short-term injury himself.

The second-string were rubbish against Brentford, I can't argue with the convincing 3-0 loss, but it is disappointing to drop out of the League Cup at the very first stage.

We didn't let that bother us though, bouncing back with a good win over Cardiff. A strong mentality allowed us to rescue a point against West Brom, Tyler Blackett scoring a header from a last-minute corner. Thierry Nevers scored on his debut to clinch the win at Huddersfield, before we ended the month with another win.

For what it's worth at this early stage, we sit top of the Championship, two points above West Brom. Yakou Meite is our top scorer so far with 4 goals. I was named manager of the month.

[DaneBramage]

September 2019

Solid month. Could have been better if we'd been more clinical up front, but can't complain.

Ovie Ejaria was a key player this month, scoring twice and coming second in the player of the month voting. 

We had enough chances to beat Blackburn but wasted them, and Rafael Cabral was the hero of the day when he saved a penalty at the other end to make sure we at least gained a point.

The Swansea game was back-and-forth, we took the lead before they pegged us back and then pulled ahead, a draw was a fair result.

We've dropped to second in the table now, just behind Fulham.

Financially things aren't looking great, we've lost about £5 million in just two months and our bank balance is in the red.

Edited July 5, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

October 2019

The new manager bounce ended dramatically, as we were beaten handily by Fulham and Bristol City. It's no exaggeration to say that we could easily have conceded twice as many over those games, we didn't turn up at all.

In fact, our defence was pretty poor all month, conceding 13 times in five games. Liam Moore made two mistakes leading to goals against Bristol City, and was fined a week's wages.

After the QPR loss I held a team meeting and let them know this poor form needed to end. When we conceded after just four minutes to Nottingham Forest I feared the worst, but our attackers had a great day in front of goal to turn it around into a big win.

Yakou Meite came second in the player of the month voting after four goals this month (up to nine for the season).

We've slipped a couple of spots to 4th place, behind Fulham, West Brom, and Leeds.

The board have put £4 million in to the club, but our bank balance is still negative.

Edited July 5, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

November 2019

Consecutive home wins brought some joy to the Madejski, but momentum was lost during the international break.

We returned to action with a trip to Brentford, and although we had more of the ball, were toothless in front of goal. I was resigned to leaving with a point, which still would have been a good outcome, but we were hit with a late suckerpunch. 

We haven't won a single midweek game this season, our second-string line-up just isn't strong enough. They were easily turned over by Leeds.

I was ready to read the riot act when we gave up a two goal lead against Wigan, but luckily substitutes Garath McCleary and Danny Loader made the difference in stoppage-time to make the long journey home a much happier time.

Ovie Ejaria is perhaps emerging as our star player with 7 goals and 6 assists so far this season, and the highest average rating at 7.41.

We stay 4th in the table, but surprisingly we're the highest scorers at the moment with 42 goals, just ahead of West Brom with 40.

[DaneBramage]

December 2019

We were flying in the lead-up to Christmas, making it five wins on the bounce. We even won our first midweek game, Charlie Adam rolling back the years with a goal and an assist against Barnsley.

We must have overdone it with the mince pies though, as we barely put up a fight on Boxing Day. The fake hoops turned us over easily at home to complete the double over us this season.

Still, at least we went into the new year with some momentum, a good win over Preston to end 2019.

Yakou Meite has now reached 10 goals for the season, the first of our squad to reach double-figures.

We're still doing much better than expected, and have risen to third in the table. We're definitely in the fight for a play-off spot.

[DaneBramage]

January 2020

Have the wheels come off? It certainly feels like it.

We started the year poorly, throwing away a 2-1 lead and ending up getting hammered by Fulham. We then played out a miserable goalless draw in the FA Cup against Blackpool, though at least we finished the job in the replay. Even then our defence did their best to let them back in to it, giving up two late goals to make the result closer than it should have been.

In between we smashed Nottingham Forest, but used up most of our goals for the month in the process. We've been terrible in front of goal since, with just one goal in four games at the end of the month. We ran circles around Leicester in the FA Cup, 62% possession and 27 shots, but couldn't do any damage and had to settle for a replay in February.  

Just four points from a possible 15 is an awful showing. I'm pinning most of the blame on Lucas Joao, he's an absolute donkey.

Ovie Ejaria and Danny Loader have both reached (and surpassed) 10 goals for the season. Interestingly*, that's now both wingers and our rotation striker reaching this target before either starting striker has. 

John Swift has picked up 10 assists, while Rafael Cabral has managed 10 clean sheets.

We've fallen to 5th in the table, but we still have a nine point gap to Middlesbrough in 7th, so we're safe in the play-offs for now.

Transfers

A couple of players left this window, as both rotation full-backs were sent away, one permanently and one temporarily. The contract of Jordan Obita was up in the summer, so he was allowed to leave now for a small fee. We're also getting a bit for Felipe Araruna going out on loan. The amounts are swallowed up by our deficit though, the bank balance is over £5 million in the red.

Edited July 6, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

February 2020

I thought the season was getting away from us after the poor January, and defeat to Leicester in the FA Cup replay didn't help, making it five games without a win.

We put out our strongest line-up against Leicester, meaning we had to rotate against Hull. And in a stroke of genius (or absolute fluke...), under 21 Ryan East and little-used loanee Ayub Masika were thrown into the starting XI, and both men scored to inspire a win. 

Not just that, but it kickstarted a run of six games without defeat. The last-minute win over West Brom was particularly pleasing, as was beating Leeds (Rafael Cabral saving a late penalty).

The less said about failing to beat bottom placed Barnsley though...

Andy Yiadom is the second player to reach 10 assists this season.

I've managed to get Danny Loader to sign a new contract, amid interest from several Premier League clubs. He wouldn't add an optional three years, and insisted on a buyout clause, but at £30 million this should be safe for now.

We remain 5th in the table, now 13 points above Sheffield Wednesday in 7th. Barring catastrophe, we should have a play-off spot in the bag.

[DaneBramage]

Youth Intake

The first youth intake is in. I've signed everyone up.

No 5.0 PA players in this batch, but there is one 4.5. Not much depth after that, just a 3.5 and two 3.0s.

I know you can't necessarily tell much at this stage, and there's every chance the PA could be well off, but there are a couple of things worth noting.

The personalities and determination are a bit lacking. Annoyingly, those with more determination are the lower rated players. At the higher end we have three unambitious players with determination 5 or below, they're never going to make it.

Thanks to our link with Ocean City we have two American players joining us from their academy.

20a Walter Derrick

Spoiler

Edited July 6, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

March 2020

Goals goals goals!

The games where our first-team played were super impressive, three big wins, all with clean sheets. Even Lucas Joao managed a brace, and we got a measure of revenge against Brentford for the defeats earlier in the season.

The second-string took on Derby in midweek and could only manage a draw, but it was enough to extend our unbeaten run to 10 games.

Ovie Ejaria is the third player to reach 10 assists, and the first to meet this threshold for both goals and assists.

With six games left we're guaranteed a play-off place, and still have an outside chance of automatic promotion. We have conceded more than the teams around us, but have also scored 8 more than anyone else. I'm eyeing up a target of 100 goals for the season.

Our bank balance is now more than £8 million in the red. If we don't get promoted we'll probably have to make some significant sales in the summer.

[DaneBramage]

April + May 2020

The good form continued, as we added another four wins to make it 14 games unbeaten.

Lucas Joao hit a bit of a purple patch in this time and was named player of the month for April. He, along with George Puscas, both finally reached 10 goals this season.

The Blackburn game was a damp squib and ended our hopes of hitting 100 goals, but at least we ended the regular season strong.

We were top scorers by a considerable margin, hitting the target 14 more times than anyone else. This boost to our goal difference meant we just pipped West Brom to 3rd place.

If we'd only picked up one more point (balls to that Blackburn loss) we'd have been going up automatically - instead, it's the play-offs.

We're up against Swansea in the play-off semi-finals.

We played them on the final day of the season, so it means we'll now be taking them on three games in a row. Form is on our side - we beat them at home and drew away.

[DaneBramage]

May 2020

Play-Off Semi-Finals

John Swift was on a one-man mission to win the first-leg, with his first goal of the season sandwiched between a pair of assists.

Unfortunately the rest of team didn't perform to anywhere near the same level, and although we led twice, we left Wales with the tie still in the balance.

We made three changes for the second-leg, and one of them paid off big time. With the encounter locked 4-4 on aggregate, Danny Loader took control of the game. First he pounced on a loose ball in the box to slot past the keeper, and after the break he got on the end of a cross from the right with a glancing header into the final corner.

An excellent showing from him to win the match, only let down by his actions in the 95th minute. He went in with a completely unnecessary two-footed lunge, and the subsequent (deserved) red card will see him sit out the final.

We're up against West Brom in the final. We beat them at home, and drew away.

Edited July 7, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

May 2020

Play-Off Final

Blooming 'eck, we've only gone and done it!

It wasn't necessarily as easy as the scoreline might make it look - Rafael Cabral was called in to action several times and the defence put in a sterling performance to limit what the West Brom attack could do.

But when we had opportunities at the other end, we took them.

Yakou Meite struck just before the break, and as the cliche goes, that's always a good time to score. We came out for the second-half full of confidence, and in the 71st minute it paid off. When Lucas Joao was tripped after bursting into the box, Michael Olise grabbed the ball to take the penalty. And mirroring his goal from the spot on the opening day, he repeated the trick here at Wembley. Nine minutes later and he scored a second, a sweet strike from just outside the area, and the Royals were ready to celebrate a return to the top flight.

[DaneBramage]

2019/20 Squad Review

Goalkeepers

Rafael Cabral had a great season, keeping 20 clean sheets and conceding less than one goal per game. Sam Walker is nowhere near good enough as backup, conceding more than twice per game.

Defenders

Matt Miazga had a cracking season, I'm certainly going to try and get him back from Chelsea for another year. Not just for his defensive performances, but 9 goals from defence comes in very handy. At right-back Andy Yiadom also performed very well, and was a creative force. The contract of Chris Gunter is up in the summer, I was expecting to let him go but when we had to draft him in for the play-off final he played well, so may have earned himself another year.

Midfielders

John Swift was our top creator from the deep-lying playmaker position, finishing the season with 18 assists. He was named the fan's player of the year, as well as Championship player of the year. Michael Olise is a big prospect for the future, I'm happy with how much gametime he got this season and he was vital in the play-off final. Charlie Adam is retiring in the summer, and joining the coaching team for our under 18s.

Wingers

Ovie Ejaria and Yakou Meite played brilliantly on the wings. They finished the year as our top scorers, while the former also notched double-figures for assists. The back-ups didn't really do much, at least two of them won't be here next year, hopefully all three.

Strikers

Danny Loader had an amazing first season with the senior squad, finishing as joint-second highest scorer with 16 goals, often coming from the bench. He has to be in the first-choice team next season.

George Puscas and Lucas Joao both underwhelmed, though at least the latter had a decent end to the season to finish with a more respectable goal tally. Sam Baldock wasn't used much, and I stopped using him at all when I saw we'd have to pay Brighton another £200k if he made two more appearances.

Edited July 7, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

End of Season Thoughts

I was not expecting to get promoted at all. I wasn't even expecting a play-off push. I'd have been perfectly happy with a midtable finish, then clearing out overpaid players and taking the money for anyone in demand, so we could plan a rebuild in the Championship.

So a promotion is a big surprise. It kind of annoys me when I read updates here and people have instant success, and now I'm one of them!

As such we are not set up for the Premier League at all. We only have two scouts, and no money to sign anyone, so our options for strengthening are pretty limited.

We even had to pay out an additional £1.7 million in bonuses for getting promoted (£200k to Liam Moore, £500k to Sheffield Wednesday (as part of the Lucas Joao deal), £1 million to Brighton (as part of the Sam Baldock deal)), so the Premier League money can not come soon enough. We are very overdrawn with the bank.

Our youth category has also been reduced from level 1 to level 2. I don't entirely know what that means, but it can't be good.

Now I've been here for a year I feel I can start making background changes, so it may be time to start asking for upgrading and hiring new staff (once we get some money anyway).

[Jtomsett11]

Good to read a Reading save,  I am a former season ticket holder and remember doing one on FM19 with quite similar players plus a load of extra wingers the club signed for no reason and crap Dutch players Stam bought in. I also went up via the play offs so I think you negate the worst of the financial problems this way. You can see why the club has struggled so much by not getting promoted and now getting relegated since plus missing out on some transfer fees for the better players!

[DaneBramage]

On 07/07/2023 at 19:53, Jtomsett11 said:

Good to read a Reading save,  I am a former season ticket holder and remember doing one on FM19 with quite similar players plus a load of extra wingers the club signed for no reason and crap Dutch players Stam bought in. I also went up via the play offs so I think you negate the worst of the financial problems this way. You can see why the club has struggled so much by not getting promoted and now getting relegated since plus missing out on some transfer fees for the better players!

When was your ST? I had one way back in 2008/09, then continued going fairly regularly for the next few years, until the Jaap Stam era killed my interest. Actually the best performance in recent years, but mind-numbingly dull.

Just looked over my records and I haven't been at all since 2017 (though I have seen the women's team a couple of times, and go to Thatcham and Hungerford a few times a year).

[DaneBramage]

Summer 2020

The early part of pre-season was spent handing out new contracts, as those who didn't have automatic promotion increase clauses kicked up a fuss. There was also a slight bit of transfer interest from PSG in Michael Olise, but when I rejected their approach they didn't come back in, and he didn't stay upset for long.

There wasn't a huge amount of transfer business going on, either in or out. Throughout last season we only had two scouts, neither particularly good, so we didn't have a big list of targets to look at. We've signed up a few more scouts now, but our options for this window were limited.

Departures

No major losses here, and good to get some expensive wages off the books. Charlie Adam and Garath McCleary were both in the rotation side last year and in the twilight of their careers, while Vito Mannone and Adrian Popa were out on loan anyway.

Signings

Despite the lack of money in the bank the board handed me a transfer budget of £34 million.

Ovie Ejaria was a pre-arranged transfer at the end of a loan spell, and one of our star players last year, so he doesn't really count as a new signing. Neither does Matt Miazga, who was also on loan last year, but transfer-listed when he returned to Chelsea.

Towards the end of pre-season one of our centre-backs was ruled out for several months with a hip injury, so we splashed the case to bring in Scott McKenna from Aberdeen. He'd only just been named their club captain so the fans weren't happy to see him go.

The other two signings were brought in after they'd been on impressive trials with us. 18 year old Connor Stanley had been released by Manchester United and will go into our under 23 squad. Josh Cullen had been released by West Ham after barely making any appearances for them, though he does have over 135 games at Championship and League One level over various loan spells, as well as a few caps for Ireland. He'll be a rotation option in midfield.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Squad

As well as the new signings, we have Mo Barrow back after he was out on loan last year.

I've also bumped up Tom McIntyre and Sam Smith from the under 23 group.

[Jtomsett11]

50 minutes ago, DaneBramage said:

When was your ST? I had one way back in 2008/09, then continued going fairly regularly for the next few years, until the Jaap Stam era killed my interest. Actually the best performance in recent years, but mind-numbingly dull.

Just looked over my records and I haven't been at all since 2017 (though I have seen the women's team a couple of times, and go to Thatcham and Hungerford a few times a year).

I started 2005/6 and then the 3 years after that. I missed the first home game of 2005 which we lost to Plymouth so then didn't see Reading lose at home until in the Premier League! I then only went occasionally,  and mostly for big games/ play off and cup appearances at Wembley and now haven't been for a couple of years. 

I also signed McKenna - he did really well for me in the Prem. 

Good luck for the season!

 

[DaneBramage]

August 2020

I was expecting to get destroyed, but we've made a really good start.

We didn't hit the ground running though; we were two-down to Norwich within half an hour. We managed to pull one back, but it wasn't enough. The bookies suggestion that we were evens to get relegated looked pretty fair.

Two home games in a row suited us nicely, and we picked up two good wins. We had five games in 16 days, and the Tottenham match was the one we sacrificed. The rotation side was played, and predictably lost.

But the intention of this was that our strongest XI would be fresh for the next two games, and it worked. We smashed Aston Villa in the cup (admittedly they did play a weakened team), and then beat Everton convincingly in the league.

Michael Olise was named young player of the month.

After five games we sit in the heady heights of 7th place.

[DaneBramage]

September 2020

This is more like what I was expecting, but that doesn't make it any easier to take. Only one goal in 360 minutes is pretty inept.

The losses to West Ham and Bournemouth are one thing. I accept those, we didn't play well at all away from home. But the other two games could have been much better.

Tottenham was a missed opportunity. I treated it as a write-off, playing the rotation side. Spurs also played a weakened side and we dominated them, especially when they had to play most of the second-half with ten men after a red card. But we just couldn't score, and they punished us in the penalty shootout.

It was the same story against Watford. More domination, loads of shots, no goals, concede against the run of play, fourth loss in a row.

We've fallen to 14th in the table, four points above the relegation places.

[Hootieleece]

September is often rough for newly promoted teams.

 

Just figure out who your relegation battle rivals are and MAKE SURE to beat them.

Also, eventually If you take enough shots eventually a few will go in.....